Pyrrhic Victory
by Kalarin
Summary: Kaiba finally wins a fight with Yugi, but not in the way he wanted. Post-canon, mentions of abuse but no graphic depictions .


**Trigger warning: This is about physical spousal abuse. **It's not shown, but it is discussed.

The theme of this story is remorse and regretting one's actions. It's also about feeling out-of-control.

It takes place when the characters are adults.

This will probably only be a one-shot.

-O-o-O-o-O-

Joey could only stare. The thing matched Yugi's eye, and not in a good way.

He knew from the minute Yugi walked into the living room they weren't going to be doing much dueling. How could Yugi smile as he sat down and brushed his bangs out of his eyes? Didn't it hurt? Joey'd had enough black eyes to know something like that should hurt. How could Yugi act like it was no big deal? Joey never acted like his street fighting wounds were anything, but this was different.

"What are you staring at?" Yugi finally asked.

"Where'd you get that shiner?" Joey blurted out.

Yugi's face hardened. He turned away. "It doesn't matter."

"Whaddya mean, it doesn't matter? If my best buddy's gonna be fighting in the street, like hell it doesn't!" Joey could barely restrain himself. "What did they want out of you? Where'd you get attacked?"

"Joey, I—"

"No, tell me. I gotta show 'em what happens when they mess with my friends." Joey rolled up his jacket sleeves.

"I didn't get it in a street fight." Yugi almost sounded angry.

"All right, all right. I just wanted to help." Joey backed off a little. Yugi looked at the floor.

"I walked into a door," Yugi said quietly. "That's all."

Red flags went up. Alarm bells sounded in Joey's mind. "Did you really?" he challenged.

Yugi didn't answer. He continued to study the carpet.

"You didn't, did you?" Joey whispered. He sat down next to Yugi. Yugi pulled away.

"We had a fight. He got into one of his moods," Yugi muttered. "But he never does this."

Joey's blood ran cold. "Kaiba…He did this to you, didn't he?"

Yugi fiddled with the plain gold band on his finger. "He's been having a rough time since the incident. He didn't mean to—"

"I'll kill him." Joey clenched his fists.

Yugi's head snapped up. "Joey, don't."

"Who does he think he is, putting his hands on you like that? I don't care if this is the first time he's done it. He's going to pay." Joey stood up. "I'm gonna nip this shit in the bud."

Yugi grabbed Joey's arm with a vice grip and looked Joey dead in the eye. "Don't do anything to him. You can't. Not in his condition."

Joey seethed, but sat back down. "You've really got him whipped, haven't you, Kaibitch?" he thought.

-O-o-O-

Mokuba entered the kitchen and went to the fridge, taking great pains not to look at his brother. Kaiba may have been under a lot of stress, but that was no excuse for his behavior. As much as Mokuba hated to do it, Kaiba needed punishment for his actions.

Kaiba sat at the table, silently sipping his tea. Mokuba slammed the fridge door. He couldn't eat in the same house as his brother after what he had done. He grabbed his keys from the hook by the door.

"You can't avoid me forever, Mokuba."

Mokuba faced Kaiba. "If you don't want to talk about it, I don't want to talk to you."

Kaiba slammed his cup on the table. "What do you want me to say?"

Mokuba gave a disgusted sigh and rolled his eyes. "I can't believe this."

"No, really." Kaiba straightened his posture, with some difficulty. He smoothed his baggy black shirt. "Tell me what you want to hear."

"How about an explanation for why you punched your husband in the face? I mean, what the fuck, Seto?" Mokuba was almost yelling. "What made you think that was necessary? The fight couldn't have been that bad."

"You weren't even there." Kaiba finished his tea and gripped the cup's handle. "How would you know?"

Mokuba clenched his hands around his keys. "How is that even relevant? I don't care what it was about, you don't do that. What is your problem?"

Kaiba glared into his empty cup. "I just lost it. It was wrong. Are you happy now?"

Mokuba stared. "Do you seriously not get it? You beat on your husband, with your ring hand, over a simple verbal argument—"

"So I'm a terrible person. I get it," Kaiba shouted. He hoisted himself out of his chair and stomped to the sink. "I know what I did was wrong and I wish I'd never done it. Can we move on?"

Mokuba shook his head and turned to leave. "I thought you were better than this, Seto."

Kaiba clutched the edge of the counter. "I guess I'm not," he whispered to Mokuba's retreating figure. The door slammed shut behind him.

Kaiba ran to the garbage can and heaved violently into it. Obviously, the tea wasn't working.

He wiped his mouth with shaking hands and went to the sink to get rid of the bile taste. A few droplets of water splashed under his eye and he reached up to wipe them away with a little more force than he liked. He ignored the pain and dried his face and hands, then walked right past the fridge to the table.

"I don't deserve the ice pack," he thought. He sank into the chair.

He tried to regain his composure. He had a strong urge to put his head on the table or assume the fetal position, anything to stop the room from spinning and allow him to gain some sort of control over his body. His current condition, however, wouldn't allow for such movements.

He stared blankly at the chairs Yugi and Mokuba usually occupied. "I've failed them both," he intoned to himself.

Kaiba felt the child—Yugi's child—shift inside of his alien-given uterus. He put a hand on his stomach.

"And I've failed you, too."

-O-o-O-o-O-

The "incident" Yugi mentions is this: aliens abducted Kaiba and equipped him with the necessary organs and orifice to bear children. Yes, I realize how heavy of a subject that is, but it does have relevance to this short story.

Also, this isn't usually the way I'd write Rivalshipping. It's just one of the many ways that pairing could turn out.


End file.
